


Silver and Black

by imaginary_golux



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Study, M/M, au yeah august
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 04:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15525645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Written for the AU Yeah AUgust prompt "soulmate".Narcissa Malfoy finds out who her son's soulmate is, makes a decision, and might just change the world.Beta by my Best of all Beloveds, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Silver and Black

Narcissa Malfoy cradles her infant son a little closer, studying the tiny fingers and toes, the miniscule crescents of his nails, the white-blond fluff of his hair. He is still a wonder to her; even now, almost two months after his birth, she can spend hours in awestruck contemplation of this tiny miracle, more precious than anything else she can imagine. She would kill for him. She would _die_ for him. This child - _her_ child, blood of her blood, a Malfoy by name but a _Black_ by birth, true heir to that ancient and noble house’s long lineage - he will be great, someday. He will be _magnificent_.

Something shimmers on his wrist.

Narcissa leans closer, breath catching in her throat. Is this - _yes_. The silver writing, a messy scrawl nothing like her own precise script, becomes clearer by the moment. Her son’s soulmate has been born at last.

She waits, barely breathing, until it settles. Messy it may be, but it is legible enough, and she turns her head a little and studies the words that set her son’s destiny before him.

_Harry James Potter_.

Narcissa’s eyes narrow. _Potter_. It’s a good, old family, if regrettably Light, but the current Mrs. Potter is _Muggleborn_. Even leaving aside Narcissa’s own prejudices, the Dark Lord is not fond of Muggleborns. The chances of little Harry James living long enough to _meet_ Draco are...slim, at best.

Narcissa glances down at the elegant silver bracelet on her wrist, covering a name that _ought_ to be the same shade of gleaming silver, and is instead as black as sorrow. She never knew her soulmate. She has had a hollow in her chest, a waiting ache that will never be filled, since before she knew her own name, before she spoke her first word. Her soulmate - Magic’s gift, Merlin’s blessing - was dead as soon as his name appeared, unwelcome and unwanted, on the wrist of a pureblood daughter of the house of Black. Her soulmate, who would have been her other half, as suited to her as a glove to a hand.

She loves her son, loves him beyond reason, beyond life. She cannot bear to think of him going through the years ahead of him with an ache sitting deep in his chest, inescapable, ineradicable. Cannot bear to think of her little Draco covering his wrist with a silver bracelet to hide the blackened words.

She will burn the world, if necessary, to make her son happy.

Harry James Potter must not die.

A faint chime sounds: her husband has returned, and his companions with him, Tom Riddle who calls himself Lord Voldemort, Narcissa’s sister and the Lestrange brothers, a dozen dozen others with black spells upon their wrists and murder in their hearts. Yesterday, Narcissa would have welcomed them gladly. An hour ago, she would have called them allies, as close as a Slytherin may have to friends.

Narcissa Malfoy puts her son down gently in his crib, and winds a length of white ribbon around his wrist, charming it so that no one but herself may remove it. Then she spells her hair to perfection, arranges her robes about her in immaculate glory, and slips her wand into its hidden sheath.

Narcissa Black Malfoy goes down to face her enemies, smiling a perfect Slytherin smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I am imaginarygolux on tumblr and ImaginaryGolux on Pillowfort, though not terribly active there as of yet; drop on by!


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